Alex Haley

“A word, for example, that is negative, pejorative, and has caused more pain and suffering is 'illegitimate.' But every person has a mother and father. It is another way we let society hurt others.”

“If you think about it, there's not a religious group, there's not a nationalistic group, there's not a tribe, there is no grouping of people to my knowledge, of any consequence, who have not, at one or another time, been the object of hatred, racism, or who has not had people against them just because they were them.”

“My own perception of Malcolm was one of something that bordered on fascination because I was looking at him and reacting to him as a subject.”

“I know Juffure was a British trading post and my portrait of the village bears no resemblance to the way it was. But the portrait I gave was true of nearly all the other villages in Gambia. I, we, need a place called Eden. My people need Pilgrim's Rock.”

“Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you.”

“Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.”

“To the best of my knowledge and of my effort, every lineage statement within 'Roots' is from either my African or American families' carefully preserved oral history, much of which I have been able conventionally to corroborate with documents.”

“When you start about family, about lineage and ancestry, you are talking about every person on earth.”

“I think from what I personally know, I am really quite proud of most of the people I know who have 'made it,' who do things to help people.”

“The problem is to find the time to write. That's why I go to sea. I couldn't be happier than when at sea.”

“Two years passed, and I had no second book to follow 'Roots.' Four years passed, six years. When a decade had passed without me having another book to follow 'Roots,' I was having serious private frustrations with myself.”

“Racism is taught in our society, it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics.”

“I stand by 'Roots' as symbol of the fate of my people.”

“In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.”

“If somebody comes up and says something good about you, that is never taken as an adhesive thing like something negative about you.”

“I look at my books the way parents look at their children. The fact that one becomes more successful than the others doesn't make me love the less successful one any less.”

“The money I have made and will be making means nothing to me compared to the fact that about half of the black people I meet - ranging from the most sophisticated to the least sophisticated - say to me, 'I'm proud of you.' I feel strongly about always earning that and never letting black people down.”

“Tying the little folks with the older folks is a great and powerful tool to preserve and to protect the family and the individual.”

“I was weeping for all of history's incredible atrocities against fellowmen, which seems to be mankind's greatest flaw...”

“My fondest hope is that 'Roots' may start black, white, brown, red, yellow people digging back for their own roots. Man, that would make me feel 90 feet tall.”